Blown over: Whipping winds topple giant pine

Fires sparked in yards by fallen power lines

Posted: Friday, November 14, 2003

By Allison Floydallison.floyd@onlineathens.com

AGeorgia Power crew cuts up a large pine tree that fell across Riverhill Drive late Thursday morning, knocking down a power line. The downed line sparked small fires in a couple of yards. The tree was apparently blown over by high winds signaling the arrival of a cold front in the area.

Autumn weather arrived in Athens Thursday, as winds whipped through Northeast Georgia and temperatures were expected to drop to near freezing overnight.

A few dozen residents along Riverhill Drive were without power for a while Thursday, after one of the giant pine trees that shadow their west Athens neighborhood snapped, knocking down power lines that sparked fires in a half- dozen front yards.

''The noise was tremendous,'' said neighbor Mary Walton, who heard the cracking of the falling tree around 10 a.m., followed by the boom of an exploding transformer.

By the time she looked outside, small fires had ignited in the pine straw of several yards.

''That's what scared me,'' she said, pointing to the water hose she had at the ready in case the fire spread.

Experts advise against trying to extinguish a fire sparked by electricity, since live wires may be downed. Instead, they advise homeowners to call 911.

Firefighting crews on Riverhill Drive quickly put out the blazes - leaving scorched spots in lawns up and down the street - and a Georgia Power crew dismantled the fallen part of the tree and restored power by early afternoon.

While they worked, a private tree-cutting crew prepared to take down the rest of the 2-foot wide pine and Athens-Clarke County workers waited to remove the debris.

An Athens-Clarke firefighter hoses down one of the small fires.

John Curry/Staff

Tommy Saxon's business, A Cut Above Tree Service, will answer five or six calls on a clear, windy day like Thursday, he said. And almost all of them will involve downed pine trees, he said.

''Heavy rain and this kind of wind will really bring them down, too,'' he said.

Georgia Power responded to four power outages early Thursday, according to local engineering supervisor Rick Boswell.

''(With) this type of wind, it's just expected,'' he said, adding that it's not uncommon for live wires to spark small grass fires, but residents should call the fire department rather than try to put out the blazes.

Wind recordings at Athens-Ben Epps Airport showed average wind speed of about 18 mph Thursday with gusts around 35 mph.

In addition to a freeze warning for Thursday night, the National Weather Service issued a ''red flag warning,'' alerting people in 96 north and central Georgia counties that dry conditions, combined with winds of 20 to 25 mph made conditions dangerous for wildfires. Freezing lows are forecasted for tonight, as well.